Tag Archives: Ferrari

Like a hole-in-one, Leclerc’s title chances are a “long shot…”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc admits that the chance of him winning the 2024 Formula 1 drivers’ World Championship is “a long shot” – and that he can only control his own destiny and not rely on Max Verstappen having problems.

With four Grands Prix and two sprint events left Leclerc has 291 points to the 362 score of leader Verstappen and the 315 of Lando Norris.

Leclerc says that Ferrari can win the constructors’ championship – in which the gap to McLaren is now just 29 points – but he has accepted that the drivers’ version will have to wait for another season.

“The drivers’ championship, I think is a long shot,” he said. “I think the constructors’ championship only relies on us doing well. I think the drivers’ championship, doesn’t rely only on me doing well, but it also relies on Max doing badly.

“And what happens to Max, I cannot control. I can only control my own destiny. And so I’ll try and do the best possible job, and then we’ll see at the end of the year. But realistically speaking, it looks very unlikely that we will get the drivers’ championship this year.”

Leclerc said that a constructors’ title would be very significant for Ferrari, the team having last won it in 2008.

However he stressed that internally the focus is still on taking this season it a race a time.

“It will be very, very important, especially after so many years of Ferrari being out of chances of winning that world title,” he said.

“However, it’s not something we focus on. It’s not something that we speak of, to be honest, inside the team. We are just focusing step-by-step.

“We really believe that this is the way forward, and in order to give ourselves the best chance, in order to win the championship, we’ve got to not think about it too much.

“So we are just focusing on this weekend, starting with this weekend, hopefully maximising the result, just like we’ve done in the last two races.

“We have a good momentum, the motivation is super high in the team, and we need to use that in order to do a very good short-term, and then we’ll see at the end of the season how it goes.”

Carlos Sainz noted recently that he believes the Qatar GP is the only race in the last four where Ferrari might not be in a position to win, and Leclerc agrees.

“I think Qatar on the paper is probably the most difficult weekend for us in the remaining ones,” he said. “I think here [Brazil] maybe it’s the second one where we don’t expect to be particularly stellar. Las Vegas should be a really good one for us, and Abu Dhabi, neutral.

“So all-in-all, again, I come back to the point of before, that we really have to focus step-by-step. It’s very fine details, and sometimes this can make a big difference.

“And especially on sprint weekends like this, it’s not because on paper, you are not the favourite that it cannot be the case tomorrow.

“We only have one free practice session, if we manage to do a really good job during this free practice session, everything is possible, and the margins are not big enough for it to be a clear P3.

“So it’s all about the job we’ll do this weekend, and if we do a really good job, then we will have chances of winning this race, even though, on paper, I don’t think we are favourites, and probably McLaren will be the team to beat.”

Ocon will have his Haas debut in the Abu Dhabi test

Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg have both been confirmed as being released to drive for their future employers in the post-season Abu Dhabi Pirelli test in December.

Haas boss Ayao Komatsu has said that the Frenchman will have his first taste of the Haas VF-24.

His 2025 team mate Ollie Bearman will drive the rookie car on the same day as he is still qualified to do, having started only two F1 races.

Meanwhile departing Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg will make his first appearance for Sauber, as officially confirmed to this writer on Thursday by team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi.

Sauber has yet to make a call on a rookie driver for Abu Dhabi as it has yet to decide who will drive the second car in 2025, and it could yet sign a newcomer such as Gabriel Bortoleto.

Meanwhile a senior Williams source confirmed that the Grove team is still in negotiation with Ferrari over a release for Carlos Sainz.

Usually such tests involved special arrangements such as drivers using unbranded overalls and helmets and running without logos on their cars due to them still being contracted to their previous teams for marketing purposes.

A release deal from Ferrari will probably more complicated to arrange for Sainz than for drivers from some other teams, given the commercial implications.

One driver who definitely won’t be sampling his new team in Abu Dhabi is Lewis Hamilton.

The seven-times World Champion won’t be sble to drive the Ferrari SF-24, and is instead committed to a major event in Malaysia on that day, and which is in effect his farewell to longtime Mercedes partner Petronas.

Meanwhile Komatsu says that Ocon’s early debut will be very valuable to Haas.

“That will be the first time for Esteban to drive our car,” he said Komatsu. “Which is important, because obviously regulations are stable. So next year’s car is an evolution of this car.

“So at least it’s good that he tastes this car before January or as soon as possible, to see what our car is like, strength and weakness. And then if he has input, we can still work on it, during the development.

“And also, obviously Ollie has been driving this car, limited to FP1 and one race, so Ollie is going to be driving as well. So again, just to have the opportunity to work with the team, experience the VF-24.

“Everything helps, right? We’ve got one driver doing the rookie test, and then one driver doing the tyre test.”

Future race drivers Kimi Antonelli and Jack Doohan will handle rookie test duties in Abu Dhabi with Alpine and Mercedes respectively.

Aston looks to be safe in fifth place, but you never know…

Aston Martin Formula 1 team principal Mike Krack has cautioned that the Silverstone outfit has to remain on its toes and cannot take its current fifth place in the World Championship for granted.

The team has a 40-point advantage over Haas, but the US-owned team has been scoring well in recent weekends, with Kevin Magnussen finishing as high as seventh in Mexico.

With two sprint races in the last four events, potential for rain in Brazil and the possibility of a high attrition street race in Las Vegas points could be available for midfield teams.

“It’s something where you cannot rest on your laurels anytime,” said Krack. “We’ve seen today that both Haas cars have done a good job to score a lot of points.

“And you have seen also how the battle at the front starts to get harder and harder, and this will also result in casualties, and that means, always, that the midfield will score higher points.

“And if you are not there, then there is a high chance that others are scoring high. So you need to be on your toes for that.

“So you have to be there. I mean, we have done well on the last two street circuits with points each time. But again, you cannot just base yourself on hope that it will be okay.

“We need to really try and really put the best package on at all times , and also get the maximum out of it. Because what looks like a cushion – I just go back in 2022, we were quite far from Sauber, and by Abu Dhabi, we were on equal points So we cannot rest.”

Aston introduced a major update package in Austin, but not all the new elements stayed on the cars in Meico.

“Some parts we did not fit,” he said. “You have seen on Friday, we run a lot of sensors, special sensors. We did run different configurations on both cars. And again, in the afternoon, different configurations on both cars.

“And then overnight we decided what is the best package? And you’ve seen, for example, the front wing stayed on, but other parts we could not keep.”

Regarding future plans he said: “We need to see which tracks are coming. So there is some very-high speed tracks, Qatar for example, where we might choose differently. Vegas, for example, a lot of low speed. So I think we have to decide based on that.”

After a disappointing Austin weekend for the team Lance Stroll had a solid race to 11^th in Meico, but Krack said it was

“We need to analyse this carefully,” he said. “Because, yes, it’s a better result than Austin, but we also need to look carefully if it is a better pace.

“Because we must not forget, today there was a lot of people taking each other out. Checo was not in his position.

“And then in the beginning of the race, we had Piastri, who were to go through the field. So I think we need to carefully analyse if we have made a step or if it was circumstantial from the race and the strategy.”

He added: “I think Mexico is a very special circuit, because it’s very biased to the low speed, plus you have the altitude. You have to run basically a configuration with a high downforce wing on the low speed circuit, which is okay-ish, but then You have the altitude and the cooling issues.

“So you run a very open cooling, so you have run a combination that is very unique, and that is something that you have to understand if this combination is special for Mexico, and that’s all the results that come with it are genuine, or related to the track and then how the race went.”

Piastri recovered to eighth after starting only 17th

Oscar Piastri says it was tougher than he had expected to get through the field in the Formula 1 Mexico City GP, and that he suffered from rarely being able to run in clear air.

The McLaren driver started only 187^th after a mistake in qualifying, and was one of the few drivers at the back of the field to start on medium tyres.

He managed to run a marathon 40-lap stint on them as he worked his way up to an eventual eighth place at the flag.

Piastri said while the result was disappointing, it had nevertheless been a good weekend for him.

“I think when the field is so tightly-bunched, it’s always very difficult to make progress,” he said. “So, yeah it was maybe a little bit tougher than I expected.

“I think the pace at the end of the race was good once I got some clean air. I just didn’t have enough of it, starting from where I was.

“So obviously that’s the thing to work on next week. I think outside the results, honestly, it felt like it was coming together to be a good weekend.

“So the result is obviously a massive shame, but I think there’s still some positives comparing to last weekend, which was a pretty lonely P5, I felt like today, I at least had a bit more control over my destiny. So let’s see what can happen next week.”

After the start Piastri took several laps even to get past the Saubers of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas.

“It was tough,” he said. “I think looking at last year’s race for Lando, and even last week for George, it’s very, very tough no matter which car you’re in, to get through a pack.

“You kind of need to wait for everything to spread out a bit. And once it did spread out, then I was able to come through reasonably quickly.

“It’s just that you’re kind of at the mercy of what the cars ahead of you do. So hopefully the tyres we tested in FP2 make that a bit easier next year, but hopefully I don’t have to start that far back again and do a better job at quali.

“So obviously, some things to improve, but I think outside of the results, behind the scenes, I felt like it was a much more positive weekend than Austin. So looking forward to next week.”

Among the drivers who made it hardest for him was Franco Colapinto, with Piastri twice coming up behind the Williams driver.

“Honestly, in the first stint, he was not too slow,” said the Australian. “I think after I pitted, he had to quite a big moment, and then defended very hard, which I think cost both of us a lot of time. But he can do what he wants. He doesn’t have to make life easy.

“So it was just a bit tougher than I expected to get through. But once we had some clean air, the pace was good. So think the key in that is make sure we got clean air by qualifying in front.”

Alonso didn’t have much luck in his 400th start

Fernando Alonso says it was “destiny” to retire from his 400^th Formula 1 race in Mexico City with overheating brakes after his unique milestone put him in the spotlight all weekend.

The Aston Martin driver suffered with soaring front left brake temperatures after a visor tear-off was caught in the duct.

He was thus called into retire after only 15 laps while running outside the points in 13^th place.

“The start was a little bit chaotic,” he said when asked by this writer about the first lap. “But I think we took advantage, Lance [Stroll] and myself, to gain some positions. I think we were under control, 11th and 12th, waiting for some opportunities, maybe to score points.

“But by lap 13, or something like that, apparently, the temperatures were unsafe and a little bit over the moon on the front left, so we took some actions on the steering wheel to protect the front temperatures.

“But they told me there is a little a bit of debris or tear-off or something in the front from brake duct. So destiny, a little bit unlucky today to not finish the race.”

He added: “Initially, the team was spotting the temperature. And then the last two laps, the brake pedal was slowing, and I think we reached an unsafe temperature to keep running.”

Alonso said that the team had learned some useful information having run a mixture of older and newer parts, and different specs on both cars.

“It was a useful weekend,” he said. “A lot of testing going on in FP1, FP2, some conclusions that we can take on board. And, yeah, hopefully we come back stronger.

“The level of performance is still not where we want to be, and we need more, so more evaluation will come in Brazil.”

He said he appreciated the attention that his 400 races record attracted.

“It was a good weekend in that side, a lot of love from everyone in the paddock this weekend, a lot of respect,” he said. “So it was nice to feel all of that. And I take it. I have a positive feeling after this weekend, despite the result, after the emotions that I was going through from Friday to today’s race.

“So, yeah, looking forward for a better result. As I said, first of all, the performance needs to get better. It was a unlucky weekend, with the yellow flag in Q2, and with today the debris on the front brake duct.

“But some other weekends, I was very lucky. And we were maybe not in the points today. So I take the bad luck when we are not in the points.”

Asked if Interlagos will suit the car he said: “Last year it did. I think we were out of Q1 or nearly out of Q1 here in Mexico, and then we went in Brazil, and we fought for a podium until the last lap. So yeah, reasonably confident that Brazil will get better.”

Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack acknowledged that the temperature issue could not be resolved, and added that he hopes Alonso’s net race will be better.

“It was building, building, building,” he said. “Normally in the first 10 laps of a race everything is overheating. And then there is stabilisation phase.

“But we saw quickly that on the brake side. It did not stabilise, it just went and went. And then if you go into the oxidation phase, that is something that you should always avoid. “So we had to make the unfortunate call that 400th race we had to end it quite early. I said it to his own colleagues we have to make sure that 401 is the proper one.”

Wing damage cost Russell time as he tried to hold off Hamilton

George Russell admits that a collapsed front wing cost him lap time and made it “tricky to hold on” in front of Mercedes Formula 1 team mate Lewis Hamilton in the Mexico City GP.

Hamilton got ahead of Russell at the start, but Russell later repassed. However the wing was damaged when he hit a bump passing Oscar Piastri, and that cost him downforce, and left him vulnerable to attack from Hamilton.

Having managed to stay ahead for many laps Russell eventually had to cede what was by then fourth place.

“I made a really strong start, but you’re kind of at the mercy of where the drivers in front of you go,” he said I asked about initially losing out to Hamilton.

“And unfortunately, they all went to the right. Last year they went to my left, and I’d have been able to get the launch, but I kind of got a bit snowballed from not getting my slipstream.

“The pace looked pretty strong in the first stint, but when I came out the pits behind Piastri, I pulled out down the straight and my front left flap just completely collapsed. I hit this bump.

“So that probably cost me a good three or four-tenths for the remainder of the race. So that was tricky to hold on for 40 laps. P5, I probably would have taken that after Friday.”

Russell agreed that he’d enjoyed a fair fight with Hamilton, contrasting to the footage he’d seen of the Max Verstappen/Lando Norris battle up ahead.

“It was nice to have the battle,” he said. “It’s always good when you fight with Lewis, because it’s hard and fair. And at the moment, you see a number of manoeuvres that are just getting beyond entertaining, or beyond sort of sporting. It’s just almost unfair to a point now.”

GPDA director Russell said that discussions over racing guidelines with the FIA at the drivers’ briefing had been productive.

“I think the stewards are totally on board with what needs to change,” he said. “I think the biggest discussion is they wanted to wait until ’25 so it’s something consistent through this year.

“I would say 19 out of 20 drivers said, well, if it’s incorrect, make the change today. And I’m glad to see those incidents were punished today. And I suspect moving forward in Brazil, what we saw today and what we saw last week, you won’t be able to get away with.”

Regarding the time lag he added: “Sometimes seems more difficult when it has to be, when things have to get approved and they’ve got to go to a vote the SAC [sporting advisory committee] or whatever it is. But as I said, 19 out of 20, we’re all aligned with where it needs to be.”